Sample Pages: The Cavern (page 3 of 12)
of Hélène reminded him of Heike, his wife, who lived and worked in Berlin. Heike was currently in the United States attending an opening of a client, Elisa Schlesinger’s, art show at the Wolf Gallery in Santa Fe. He had not heard from Heike in almost a month and he felt guilty because he hadn’t called her. Wisent had recently realized, to his astonishment, that if he didn’t call his wife, she made no attempt to reach him. He admitted after some meditation that their marriage, an odd ménage, had entered a new phase, a phase he was having some difficulty in grasping. At first, after his move from Berlin to Paris, they had attempted to communicate as often as possible. Both accepted the fact that because he had been offered a teaching position at a well-known school for Catholic girls in Paris several years ago he would move to France, teach, and complete his book on Nietzsche to satisfy the requirements for his doctoral degree. Heike, an artist’s agent, would follow him as soon as she freed herself from her clients and established herself in the art scene in Paris. The reality though was Heike made no attempt to free herself from her Berlin clients, nor did he believe she had taken any steps to do so. Instead, she used her newfound freedom from the daily rigor of being married and living with another person to become more involved with the Berlin art scene, where she spoke the language and felt the most comfortable. In fact, during her most honest moments, Heike realized that with Karl in Paris she now felt free to attend every art opening, stay out late talking with artists, and drink beer with her friends, men friends usually, until the wee hours of the morning. At first she simply enjoyed her freedom. She moved easily among the literati of Berlin. But soon, several months after Karl had moved to Paris, she found herself going home with a male friend to finish off the evening. It wasn’t serious, her flirtations, she thought; it was just necessary for her mental and